Page 60 of Second Chance Vacation

“Yes, you are.” I laugh, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

The song wraps up, and I lead her back to our table, where I find Savannah sitting on Wes’s lap. He is smiling from ear to ear, completely content just being around her. I sit down, and Gen mimics her best friend as she finds her way to my lap. I watch intently as she pulls her wine to her lips, taking a large gulp of the burgundy liquid.

“Are you sure you need more of that?” I ask. I'm not here to tell her to stop, but I want her to be reminded in case she wants to cut herself off.

“I’m fine,” she says back at me before nuzzling her face into my neck.

She stays there for a little while. Every so often, I notice her inhaling my scent, a sigh of contentment leaving her lips. It makes me smile. God, I’m in love with this woman.

Gen draws hearts on my shirt with her pointer finger as she looks up at me.

“You’re really hot, you know that?”

Okay, she’s insanely drunk.

“Oh really? Well, thank you.” I grin, pressing my lips to her temple.

Savannah appears to be just as drunk as Gen is, and Wes doesn’t appear to be affected by the alcohol at all.

“We should probably get these two to bed,” Wes says, reflecting my very thought back at me. I am nowhere near tired, but I am sure any minute Gen is going to pass out, and I’d rather help her out of here awake than try to carry her to the cab as dead weight.

We arrive back at the house and try to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake the now passed-out women in our arms. Gen’s head is pressed against my chest, and I hope she can’t hear my racing heartbeat every time she stirs. The floorboard creeks below my foot, causing her eyes to flutter, but she quickly falls back into her sated state.

Once she’s tucked into our bed, I sit for a moment, taking in the image in front of me. She is always beautiful, but there is something extra ethereal about her when she doesn’t think anyone is looking. So relaxed, so calm, so her. I press a kiss to her temple before heading down the stairs as quietly as possible.

Wes is out by the pool with a bottle of beer in his hand and another sitting on the table for me.

“Thanks, man.” I grab the bottle, the built-up condensation wetting my palm. “How’s Savannah?”

“She threw up.”

I choke on my beer at his response, then look at him.

“Please tell me she got to the bathroom…”

It’s then that I notice that he is wearing a different shirt than he wore out to the bar.

“Unfortunately…no.”

Suddenly, I am that much more grateful that Gen is tucked in bed, sound asleep. I left the trash can next to the bed just in case, but to my memory, she’s never really been a puker.

Pressing my beer to my lips, I look out at the pool, the water glistening under the summer stars. Wes does the same, and we sit there entranced in the ripples for what feels like an eternity. He wants to say something. I just don’t know what.

“Just say it, Wes.”

He doesn’t seem rustled by what I said. I almost think he doesn’t hear me. Gazing off at the pool for a few moments longer, he turns to me.

“Are you still in love with Gen?”

Okay, so we’re doing this.

Unsure of how to respond, I just sit there, gulping down the rest of my beer. Of course, I’m still in love with her, but there’s a difference between saying it out loud and thinking it in my head. Saying it out loud speaks it into existence. It becomes a reality. It becomes something that Gen can take from me.

“It’s complicated.”

“It’s really not. You either love her, or you don’t.”

While I know Wes is right, something about his words really pisses me off. Who is he to judge how I handle things? I’ve done nothing but support his relationship with Savannah, and never once have I pried. He got the chance to process things on his own terms.

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